Saturday, 31 October 2015

River Loughor epiphytes

Orthotrichum sprucei

A quick afternoon visit to the banks of the Glamorgan side of the Loughor in SN50Y was made to give the square total a boost. The first tree I inspected, a Rusty Willow, had plenty of the expected epiphytes, one I was hoping for - Orthotrichum rivulare, plus another that I wasn't expecting - O. sprucei, which was fruiting and replete with gemmae, so in pretty full-on reproduction mode. This was a new species for me, which I suspect will prove to be more widespread along this river.